Announcement:
The electoral rolls for the next General Elections are now open for inspection. Please go to: http://elections.gov.sg .
By Ng E-Jay
Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam delivered the Budget Statement in Parliament on Monday 22 Feb.
In the opening paragraphs of his budget speech, the Finance Minister acknowledged the vulnerability of Singapore’s export-oriented economy which caused it to suffer a 10% GDP contraction during the most recent recession. However, it is disappointing to note that the budget statement did not mention ways in which Singapore’s economy could be diversified so as to make it less reliant on exports.
Mr Shanmugaratnam said that Budget 2010 aimed at positioning Singapore’s economy to deliver growth based on productivity gains rather than ever expanding use of manpower, as per the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) recommendations.
Emphasizing the need for transforming our economy and raising worker skills has been a constant refrain of the Singapore government since the late 1970s. The initial success of the government in the early days of nation building was due to the fact that we started off from a low base in terms of worker skills and overall educational level of the workforce. By the late 1990s, growth in productivity had stagnated after a couple of boom decades.
What has the Finance Minister said to convince us that it will be different this time, especially when the proposed measures in Budget 2010 are nothing novel or radical, but are merely variations of what the government is purported to have been doing in recent years?
According to Budget 2010, the government will spend $5.5 billion over the next 5 years on sustained initiatives to help businesses and workers raise productivity. While $5.5 billion may sound like a lot of money, it is just half the amount spent on defence in a single year. It is also a tiny fraction of the amount of money lost by GIC and Temasek during the 2008 financial meltdown. Is the government truly serious about its latest initiatives at raising productivity?
Mr Shanmugaratnam said that the government will support the growth of globally oriented companies including those involved in R&D. While that sounds positive on the surface, the government’s poor track record at picking industry winners casts doubt as to whether it should really be in a position to decide who should succeed or fail.
Very often, the free market makes much better choices compared to a team of ivory-towered bureaucrats. There are also conflicts of interests because many of Singapore’s globally oriented companies are Government-Linked Corporations.
The Finance Minister also acknowledged in his budget statement that reducing the dependence on foreign labour will pay off in higher productivity over the longer term, but impact growth in the short term.
The undesirable outcome of having to deal with reduced growth in the short term could have been avoided had the government calibrated the inflow of foreign workers right from the start, as opposed to waiting till the population had become saturated with foreigners before narrowing the valve. In this instance, the government has shown itself to be reactionary rather than proactive.
The Finance Minister also said that median incomes rose by 20% in real terms from 2005 to 2008, justifying the government’s growth strategy of importing large numbers of foreign workers.
Unfortunately, Mr Shanmugaratnam has neglected to consider the fact that wages at the lower end of the income spectrum are still stagnating. Therefore, contrary to what Mr Shanmugaratnam has said, the government had indeed embarked on a “growth at all cost” model of economic management in recent years, because the growth strategies contributed to larger income disparities and failed to take into account the strain on the social fabric of our nation as a result of uncontrolled population expansion.
The Finance Minister’s proposal for the government to facilitate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) through enhanced tax benefits and waiver of stamp duty on transfer of unlisted shares is disconcerting. M&As are good for an economy only up to a certain extent. While they help weed out companies that are not so competitive, in a small economy like Singapore’s, they also have a tendency to create monopolies that eventually retard productivity growth because of reduced competition and crowding out of smaller players.
The Finance Minister also spoke about nurturing the next generation of business leaders, such as spending money to enhance SPRINGS’s Business Leaders Initiative, which is a grooming programme for young business talents.
In order to successfully groom the next generation of entrepreneurs and risk-takers, the entire educational system has to be overhauled to encourage creativity and innovative thinking. The stigma of failure has to be removed. The stifling political climate which infects the civil service and our educational institutions must also be addressed, because vibrant minds cannot flourish in an oppressive environment. Unfortunately however, the ruling party does not seem to have the political will to make the necessary changes.
The government has made the right decision to focus on productivity and reduce the reliance on unskilled foreign labour. The Finance Minister also made the right connections in asserting that future productivity growth can only come about by a concerted effort by businesses, individuals, and the government.
However unless fundamental issues concerning our educational and political system are addressed, the government will only be able to go so far before it hits a brick wall and has to retrace its steps all over again.
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Read the finance minister’s full budget speech here: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/budget2010
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Just read the comments on the budget on TR and I can say that TOC wins hands down. So much more informed, intelligent and balanced.
Amazing singapore
Feb 23, 2010 14:33 ‘how come germany with the fewest working hours are considered the most productive? How come Sg ppl that work long hrs are not? Does the gov care to give us an explaination why sg workers who are working for so long, and low pay are not, by their definitions? Is it becos we r working long hrs and not enough pay???”
Productivity is a formula with output as the numerator and number of people as a denominator. Hence if you produce BMWs which is of high value, the Germans are highly productive. So what the govt say about raising our productivity is the key is simply rubbish if our output is of low value. If service is the output, then it is lagi worse as service is not scalable.
This is another wayang show by PAP. Once they get 99% control in parliament, they can continue to screw us again. Best is we vote 40% opposition MPs to ensure PAP perform.
I am surprise that after all these many many years of Productivity campaign we are now told not productive enough? If not mistaken sg workforce was said by someone to be very productive already.
I find this notion of productivity strange.
Productivity campaign was started donkey years ago.
I thought it had achieved its target by now?
I thought singapore workers are said to be Productive?
I thought singapore workers are well praised for hardworking and reliability among others?
I find it strange that now they focus on Productivity again.
Productivity campaign was started donkey years ago.
I thought it had achieved its target by now?
I thought singapore workers are said to be Productive?
I thought singapore workers are well praised for hardworking and reliability among others?
I find it strange that now they focus on Productivity again.
To think that getting Trained will solve unemployment issue is overly simple minded.
A school can train 2000 nuclear scientists who will eventually be jobless.
Its How many Jobs can be Created.
If you can create the jobs, people will automatically beg, borrow or loan money to get themselves trained without someone telling them what to do.
PMETs are suffering more than ever because their jobs are not there for them. There is no longer job security unless your family owns the INC or company and gives you a nice position regardless of performance.
“Productivity Budget”!
To begin with, How productive are our millionaire ministers and members of parliament?
1. LKY , admitted not performing any work, except “forecasting” and demands to be paid
millions. Most, if not all, of his forecast policies are flawed. = Non productive at all!
2. Why topped up Medisave? Why not topped up our bank account?
Medisave, can see cannot touch. We need cash to spend, most native Singaporeans are
jobless!
3. Foreign trashes are allowed and welcome to compete with local Singaporeans for jobs.
The productivity budget is targeted more for the elites and their croonies.
Year in year out, same old crap, nothing new!!
VOTE OUT PAP
Ridiculous inflation is already rampant. Given real wages are not increasing and with their absurd emphasis on constantly keeping costs lower, faster , cheaper, we are bracing on stagflation. This budget is another joke in a series of many and is just a decoy to show that these morons are “working”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Singapore makes/breaks it own rules. This is a known given. Singapore is now on the verge of being totally auctioned off to the highest bidders. Budget or no budget, the working people will suffer more and more if these idiots stay in power.
Best Budget=ZERO budget for all ministers’ pay !
I think its not purely just the amount of foreign workers that are coming in. After all there are many position that locals do not want to do. I think we have heard of stories where locals simply refused to take up the jobs due to distance, work environment, shift works .. etc. and I think some employers are left with no choice sometimes. However, its the speed in which the government accept these foreigners as PR which alarms me. That foreigner that comes in may be “highly” educated with all the paper qualifications, but their work attitudes and skills are simply terrible. Yet I have seen many of these so called foreign “talent” getting PR status within a very short time. We have reduced our productivity in expense of increasing the population. Its sad.
I would like to respond to post by “HowSmartAreYou?” (Feb 23, 2010 10:03)
Quote: “Singapore’s small size makes it unlikely that it can cut its dependence on exports to sustain its economy. The alternatives such as being a financial center, R&D, shipping hub, tourism and so on are already well in place so it is fair to say that the government is doing a great job there…..”
Ah, it is size again! Why don’t you say given Singapore’s small size, makes is unlikely right that Spore’s ministers be paid highest in the world. There is a smaller land area to govern and less population to govern.
The alternatives such as being a financial center, R&D, shipping hub, tourism and so on are in place only by name. They do not function like they really should and for the benefit of Singaporeans. Finance, R&D and tourism are the biggest shambles. All the hubs of all trades are not going to make Singapore’s economy any better unless they are done in Singaporeans interest with Singaporeans skills (through better or real education provided for everyone). The fact that Sporean Us don’t take older students show that the R&D is not going to head anywhere.
I’m a single young man, making good money. Not married, don’t intend to marry or have children. This Budget does not benefit me the slightest – no cash will be directly credited into my bank account. Useless and worthless.
All the superfluous reliefs mean nothing to me – Parent relief, spouse relief, dependent relief. Course fee relief: you can’t even do a semester of MBA for that money! Medisave top-up is only for old folks.
Foreign workers, not my problem. The construction industry may have it rough though.
One thing is eminently clear though: there is a budget deficit, GST will be raised to 10% in the near future and I predict the number of foreigners in Singapore to exceed 40% soon. Don’t believe me? Walk around Singapore and open your eyes and look.
One thing is eminently clear though: there is a budget deficit, GST will be raised to 10% in the near future and I predict the number of foreigners in Singapore to exceed 40% soon. Don’t believe me? Walk around Singapore and open your eyes and look.
Whatever they are giving out are eventually going back to their own pocket. Believe me, it may sounds too good but how many of us singaporeans really dig deeper and ask for details? Nah….! knowing most of the local citizens are too busy trying to keep their heads above water level and that is why there are always figures and figures from them to confuse you people. Why? the answer is pretty obvious here, they cannot afford even to lose 1 more seat to the opp party because they know their time is up and is coming onto them real fast, so they have not much but to use whatever it takes even to make out the biggest LIE to the people just to keep themselves holding popwer, they WILL DO JUST ANYTHING< YES ANYTHING!
2010 Budget, beautifully phrase in a political fashion.
First the 5.5b use to up productivity, who will benefit? Shore up the skills of locals or FTs? The FT get a free ride again and leave for greener pasture?
Secondly, we are not the only one in the race of productivity. China, India and many others have been improving their productivity and there is no way we can compet with them just on productivity alone. Not to mention our gahmen may spend a substantial of the productivity budget to help the FTs which will benefit their country in the race of productivity against us.
So don’t be too happy about the 5.5 b budget, maybe the death budget for us looking at unbelieveable stupidity of the national administrators in pouring money to sponsor foreign students.
Thirdly, besides productivity, the big, fat, over size and imcompetent when operating overseas GLCs controlling about 60% of Singapore’s GDP are just still big, fat and imcompetent.
Our economy is too mature to be based solely on productivity, we must be better and more innovative to compet effectively with others.
Are we going to be like the Japanese model that keeps refining the quality of their wares to almost perfection or are we following the western model to keep innovating?
The GLCs are just too damn rigid and brain dead to be innovative. They are also unable to perfect their ware to perfection because they are run by egotistical and conceited tryants and scholars whos only successful model is how to juice out more blood and sweat money in their protected ‘homeland’. They are more of a drag than a boost for the economy.
LKY’s wild fantasies of the GLCs being the powerhouse for the economy are still fantasies after 20 yrs of ‘honest mistakes’. Can’t even tolerate just ONE ’Goodyear’ and so they are doomed to have more bad years of peanuts losses.
So, we shall see if the 2010 Budget, is a budget for the ’anticipated better future ahead’ or a Budget for more ‘honest mistakes’ .
i missed the telecast on budget .
can someone name me just 1 solution proposed that is Innovative or Revolutionary or Shockingly impressive if not solid bombastik?
thankyou you many many.
singaporeans, congratulations, you are gonna get a bright future wor.
More Good Years for you hor.
Swiss Standard some more.
Last not least, world cup 2014 for you.
Increase personal income tax! Do what other developed countries do. Tax people in higher income brackets more! If LKY is drawing 3M a year, tax him 50%. 1.5 M goes a long way. How much goods and services must citizens consume in order to raise the equivalent sum of 1.5M through GST? Go figure. Increasing GST is bull and it affects people both poor and rich. Increase personal income tax affects rich people like the PAP more and that is why you will never hear them propose that but it is efficient in redistributing income from the rich to the poor. To be honest, I don’t mind getting tax more if it means having better social safety nets like heavily subsidized or even free healthcare. That way, I don’t have to worry about depending on charity in the event I get diabetes or cancer!
Personally i dont translate achieving Higher Productivity in the following years be necessary a good news for Singaporeans…
a) Higher Productivity = Higher Output / Same No. of Headcounts
or
b) Higher Productivity = Same Output / Lesser No. of Headcounts
Since last couple of years, GEMs, or the service industry has been the focus of our government. Hence, we will not see the result of (a) – Higher Output. Instead we will likely end up with stagnant Output – (b), which means more job losses, if Higher Productivity is achieved.
Good luck, fellow Singaporeans.
hy did they stop all pension scheme but….
why does ministers still have pension despite drawing millions a year.
btw lowlee and his son are not drawing 3M, probably cost to 6M (since they can reward themselves discretionary bonuses up to 12 months – they decide how much they should pay). you think they would pay themselves 1 month bonus? he he he
GST and ministers pay will go up after next election.
New influx of foreigners will also be triggered after next elecion.
HDB prices will return to new heights after election.
#non medicore, Feb 23, 2010 23:32
What is truly innovative is that about 1.8m FWs has been dragging down our productivity despite “careful calibration” on the influx, and now the about 2m working true-Singaporeans is asked to double their productivity to cover for the lost productivity of this calibrated group. The FW levy system is explained at lengths on media but somehow it only illustrates how the govt can rake in more revenue without actually assigning any productivity growth on this group that is dragging everyone down. The typical (non-innovative) “We” mentality when the ship is sinking, but the “I” when justifying the ministers’ pay.
You know the Army drill — those that can work will be asked to work more, since 2.5 years NS is but cheap labour. Uniquely Singapore. Sorry, no understand bombastic until I see some results.
I dont understand this budget at all. In 2008 and 2009 we have defict, that is because the government expenses jumped from 40B to 60B! Previously 20B is unaccountable! And now 30B out of 60B is unaccountable for!
If the Gov did not increase their salaries by so much, we wont have so much deficit at all! What happened to the 30B??? We are not a large country but a very small one. Why do we spend 30B on salaries for our almighty gov, sorry is 60B now! More than France! We spend more than France???? Unbelievable!??
Why is that every time we have a deficit and surplus, it is always +1 or -1 Billion??? Why? Mathemathically, it is impossible! If the gov budget did not increase from 40B to 60b, we have a surplus of 19B this year plus 20B of unaccountable expenses!
Why tax us for our money? What up with this money making schemes? Singapore have long lost her moral grounds, it is now tax tax tax.
Even the new progressive property tax is a big lie, loses 180million huh? I dont believe, cos the gov can tax more. The property tax just increased last year only! And u telling me, u lose that much money from the new property taxes and not the old one?
Wake Up, Singaporeans! Your gov is treating you like pigs and fools!
would you rather have an unsustainable FT policy, or sustainable growth of economy? Blame it on PAP politicians that want to maximize GDP growth at all costs to the citizens. So dear fellow netizens, you could actually make a respectable living as a construction worker or sales man if the remuneration is commensurate with the high costs of living in Singapore.
Singaporean politicians want more pay but do less (recall there is an increasing number of positions for MM/SM/Ministers of State etc etc), is that fair too? They want wage hikes and better working environment (recall the opulent refurbishment of ministry/stat board), but they themselves do less, have lower productivity. Stop finding excuses and blaming others. Same for job security as they actively persecute opposition members and civil activists. They want to get paid while not performing.
Citizens vote for MPs to work and represent their interests in their country, NOT company. Citizens should not vote for MPs so that they can be “trained” in various positions of directorship and they “chiak liao bee”.
We are a small nation, we can only rely on human resources – espoused in Singapore Spirit. There is a substantial local market for us to tap on to grow our GDP, provided local enterprise is not stifled by GLC monstrosities and high rental rates.
@objective
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at your comments. It is not the job title or kinds of job that Singaporean shun. Construction workers or sales man are not inherently “bad” jobs. If paid well enough, there will be always be demand for a job. In fact, one of the jobs that are highly desirable in Canada is the garbage collector because of its high pay and good benefits and this job is well protected such that only the citizens can take them up.
So please stop this cliche as it has already been beaten to death.
#To: How Smart Are you.
Dear Sir,
The free market notion cannot be applied to public housing, a read on policies and how it affects public housing. It will give you a great insight. You will understand the mechanics of how policies affects and how it has affected. The paper was done in Singapore and is published on the net. Have a look.
On ivory-towered bureaucrats understanding business and supporting them. It’s just strange. How are they going to do it. The best is to provide across the board assistance, instead of choosing. How will they know, what losing millions and billions…coming to advise me on my business. I’ll ask them to get out. Free market will prevail, but not for public housing tough.
The Ministers need to explain why their master non mediocre plan of having so many foreigners here and PRs and new citizens here have resulted in a situation of Productivity not enough?
Gan, LSS, you wan to exprain or not?
@objective, Feb 24, 2010 10:08
dunno what is the Objective of that logic — that singaporeans dun wanna be construction worker, etc. There is an article in the ST today bya visiting prof. economist — even he says that one of the traps of low cost foreign workers is that they hold down the wages for locals. This has been debated extensively in TOC & other blogs previously, and only morons will still believe (or want to believe, or want others to believe) that S’poreans only want high pay in cushy jobs. Maybe you are thinking of our ministers, and concludes that ordinary S’poreans also aspire for obscene pay while doing some wayang now & then.
@Whoosh Extraordinaire , Feb 24, 2010 10:44
Had siblings and friends studied in Canada, and they worked as fruit pickers during term breaks. Forgot what was the min wage per week then, but everyone was like …. whaa, rich man! They had rent to pay, uni fees to pay, food to buy, winter clothing(!) to buy, etc…. and that national min wage standard was found to be ”quite comfortable”. So agreed, instead of bashing S’poreans to death, mainstream proponents should show they know the full picture — bring in also standard of living, cost of living, decent wage levels for “dirty” jobs, job designing, etc… when commenting.
But alas, all we hear is that LEVY thingy in the budget. How does that help the average S’pore hold a job or pay the bills?
Morons, I say….
I suspect the govt provides cheap labour so that businesses can afford to pay them the high rental and also more taxes in profit. Does anybody has the figures for Govt rental revenue?
With the astronomical rental revenue and also profit tax, the Govt should then give out more benefits to the people to compensate for the low wage or unemployed. Problem is this is not happening. The cycle is broken somewhere. The Govt should either regulate wage (min pay) or distribute the revenue collected, they cannot don’t regulate wage and don’t give out revenue from businesses. They are not doing either of these, I suspect thats why they can afford to reward themselves astronomically, and thats why the people of Spore are suffering in a so called super rich country.
Advice on how to improve “productivity” as in “making babies” may be easier than work productivity .So our highly paid ministers please don’t recommend aphrodasiac to our hungry local workers when you should recommend food to keep us alive!
We need jobs NOT catalysts or abstract talk on productivity where so-called funding find their way only to GLCs !
just look at countries around us, corruptions and political instability will ruin a country, as for our Senior leaders, be it Our LKY, Goh or Jeya , they are not there just to be paid, their brain power and experience is an added factor for what the accelerating Singapore is all about, just do not comment on ministers wages dude, don”t they deserve it ? for all they have made Singapore , for what it is now, they deserve what they are earning , the Govt is doing what they could for Singaporeans , some of us singaporeans being lazy and therefore we are unemployed ,well ministers are not responsible for individual”s laziness, our Ministers are hardworking true Singaporeans unlike most of us here who just like complaining for the sake of it,
“…well ministers are not responsible…”
They are way ahead of you. They are NEVER accountable for ANYTHING. Been there done that.
“….our Ministers are hardworking true Singaporeans unlike most of us here…”
Zzzz…No wonder they say SIZE matters.
Some use their short little organ to bootlick till it shines. But world-class retards wrap their 12 inch tongue around the boots to keep it in business. :)
//Ray
the brain power of LKY to lose the equivalent of the wealth of Ng Teng Fong in a year?
I can do that too.
How did the Taiwanese, HKer, South Koreans managed their development and higher purchasing power and retirement monies without LKY? and locking people up for no reason?
@ Ray Feb 25, 2010 3:03
After reading your posting, I can’t decide whether to puke or laugh, thin I will puke first, then laugh..
2 is enough failed policy, please explain where is the foresight? how come we need to import foreigners to make up for the short fall in population now?
TH/GIC loses, so with the high brain power, why they are losing $ instead of making a killing in this financial turmoil..
Swiss standard of living, world cup 2010, please tell me what happens?
mee siam mai hum, please tell me which stall is selling mee siam with hum?
wah lau ray.. you are really dense and naive..
lim – let me add “graduate mother scheme”, “education streaming”, “Chip Goodyear”, “Foreign talent”, etc to the list of failed policies made by government
“our Ministers are hardworking true Singaporeans unlike most of us here who just like complaining for the sake of it”
>> Please provide facts to substantiate your claim. PERIOD.
Ray,
tell us, how much is total loss?
why productivity now the focus with so many foreigner workers?
do you know the pricing components of HDB?
how do you know what you dun know ? (a general question)
enlighten us. if not, humor us.
Whoa….
Are Singaporean really that lazy ?
Didn’t GCT visited France recently ? How can he explain both France and UK have the same productivity level but France did it with a 35 hour workweek, 60% salary tax, 10% unemployment and countless street riots and strikes ?
Do GCT know which country have more foreign workers ? France or UK ? What about Germany, do German companies always cry for foreign workers similar Singapore companies ?
Didn’t LKY visited UK NHS several years back ? Are they more productive than Singapore or France ?
I rest my case.
Switzerland relies heavily on Germans , correct me if i am wrong, so what is the Productivity of Switzerland workforce compared to singapore workforce?
Compare labor cost of Germans with sg FTs.
Sg swiss standard or not already?
answer leh.
1 can easily migrate to switzerland if 1 chose to…do you all know that enterin into switzerland do not required to be stamped by immigration @ all?
i asked the polite immigration officer why is my passport not stamped? and i could disappear and mingled liked a swiss cheese….
the polite immigration officer asked me..are you nuts? maybe you watched the sound of musik too often…who in their right mind would want to travel in a tram and pay sin$5 per trip? for those who think they can siamed the minimum $5 ticket ride..don’t even THINK..don’t act dumb and blurred as well..the citizens in the same bustop would tapped your shoulders and point in every bustop there is a ticket punchin machine…punched IT..
beside plaincloth bus inspector are everywhere..without a valid punched ticket..you would be fined on the spot 10 times the penalty..no bargains no excuses allowed…
“The Finance Minister also spoke about nurturing the next generation of business leaders, such as spending money to enhance SPRINGS’s Business Leaders Initiative, which is a grooming programme for young business talents.”
This must be the Finance Mininster million dollar joke…. that SPRING is capable of grooming young business talents? don’t joke, they have the worst kind of leaders in there, and what have they nutured to date? and as usual, they have a BG, reps from stat borads like NTUC, JTC, plenty of PAP supporters like Zaqy, academics.
Only 7 biz related people are on the BOD of 18 where majority of the 7 is not even internationally exposed or considered successful. And we are spending more money n SPRING’s initiatives? more money down the drain presumably
Sg is a so-called 1st world and open FT policy and said to be swiz standard.
Switzerland is a 1st world and welcomes FTs like Germans who are the backbone of their economy.
But why Swiss can pay the germans so much higher salaries than sg?
What i know is top class foreign talents are usually paid very highly.
germany exports mercedes, bmw, volkswagen, sap, audi, adidas, porsche, bosch, siemens
usa exports potato chips, junk food, CDOs, the greenback, more junk food, weapons n debt.
as in the case of germany, if your exports are of high value u don’t have to work like hell, n u will have high productivity per hour worked.
Philippe Dufour is an old man, doesn’t work like mad n is more productive per hour than most singaporeans.
as in the case of USA, if u manage to engineer yourself into the position where u r able to hold the world ransom, if u can export debt, it does not matter if u export lots of worthless stuff or low value stuff like potato chips.
singapore cant do either.
so,
what does singapore export?
Objective,
what is working in a world class country in S’pore like? slogging away almost round the clock like a slave for paltry pay? what is work/life balance? an aspiration that 1 can only dream of? what use is “growth” in GDP good for?
eh, let’s take an alternative perspective. why are employers always looking for the cheapest staff to fatten the bottomline? is there no other way or are they always taking the easiest route (hence, no culture of innovate). bringing down wages is no longer yielding its desired results, to continue down this path will doom the companies that fail to look for alternative solutions.
companies can always compare cheaper & “hungrier” foreign workers to locals, if companies do not 1 2 do business here, they can leave. local staff need (not want) a decent wage to reflect accurately the cost of living here. if all employers hire staff based on the lowest wage, sooner or later their businesses may well go bust, because domestic comsumption cannot sustain them.
when that happens, maybe govt should let businesses fail because their business model is fundamentally flawed?
while it make little sense to give the lower income group large amts of money in grand acts of charity, much more should be done for them.
most are not well educated but many r a relatively hardworking lot, they are only looking for a modest but respectable retirement n a better future for their children.
what could be more demoralising than slogging hard everyday in “less desirable” jobs but end up realising they could hardly make ends meet?
surely it’s ok for the FTs, for their stay here is temporal, n they live in worker’s dorms or shared rental housing which is much lower cost n they have no family here,living cost can be very low if u r alone. after some years here, they move on. as for singaporeans, where can they move on to?
therefore i think establishing a minimum wage would enourage more singaporeans to take up such jobs n be gainfully employed.
to prevent the FTs from taking advantage of the minimum wage, it could be implemented like an expanded jobs credit scheme.
meaning to say the singaporean n FT work on the same job, they are paid the same wage which is dictated by market forces, let this be $Y.
lets say the minimum wage is set as $X
in the event where X is greater than Y, the government comes in n top up the difference to $Y, FTs are not allowed to claim this top up.
at the low end of the wage bracket it is not going to cost the government(or rather more accurately the tax payers) a lot of money. in good years when the governemnt kept running budget surplus n creaming it off into reserves n then the MAS lent to somebody to invest, whom in turn lose the money. we might as well put it to better use.
local singaporeans have no where to “go back” to which has lower cost of living n favourable currency conversion rates, they live in a REAL world but they are paid as much as a FT, does this make sense to u?
perhaps they might not even be able to retire in johor with that wage, much less in singapore.
btw, i am looking for partners to set up a joint venture to built low rise condo style cluster living retirement villages for singaporeans in Dhaka – Bangladesh, anyone who is interested can give me a call.